title: Descriptive Study of Occupational Accidents and their Causes among Electricity Distribution Company Workers at an Eight-year Period in Iran.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Occupational accidents are unplanned events that cause damage. The socio-economic impacts and human costs of accidents are tremendous around the world. Many fatalities happen every year in workplaces such as electricity distribution companies. Some electrical injuries are electrocution, electric shock, and burns. This study was conducted in an electricity distribution company (with rotational 12-hour shift work) in Iran during an 8-year period to survey descriptive factors of injuries.
  
  
  METHODS
  Variables collected included accident time, age of injured worker, employment type, work experience, injury cause, educational background, and other information about accidents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results indicated that most of the accidents occurred in summer, and 51.3% were during shift work. Worker negligence (malpractice) was the cause of 75% of deaths. Type of employment had a significant relationship with type of injuries (p < 0.05). Most injuries were electrical burns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High rate of accidents in summer may be due to the warm weather or insufficient professional skills in seasonal workers. Shift workers are at risk of sleep complaints leading to a high rate of work injuries. Acquiring knowledge about safety was related to job experiences. Temporary workers have no chance to work all year like permanent workers, therefore impressive experiences may be less in them. Because the lack of protective equipment and negligence are main causes of accidents, periodical inspections in workshops are necessary.
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdolrasoul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rahmani
authors.forename: Monireh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Khadem
authors.forename: Elham
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Madreseh
authors.forename: Habib-Allah
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Aghaei
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Raei
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Karchani
keywords: electric burns; malpractice; occupational injuries